Michel Roux's Cucumber Coulis

When I got Michel Roux's book on sauces a few weeks back, I was a touch intimidated.  I mean this man is a genius! A true great. It seemed very technical. It seemed pro. It seemed to daunt me. I'd flip through and salivate but then think I don't know if I can do that. Luckily, last night, I finally got my shit together and, in the midst of breadless Passover, I made Roux's cucumber coulis and really jazzed up a matzoh dinner.

The recipe seemed easy enough - with just a handful of ingredients that I forgot to snap a photo of in their true states. But here's what things looked like as I started to blend them up with my stick blender. That's cucumber, red chile, parsley, and sage.



Yummy! Then I started streaming in some olive oil to smooth things out.



And here it is in it's finished state before I added it as that special something to dinner.



This took a total of about 90 seconds from start to finish - and it really sauced up a boring Pesach meal. Check it out.



Nova on matzoh never looked so good. I jarred the rest of it and plan on using it for the next few weeks atop some flaky white fish... in a tomato and basil salad.. and on crab cakes. Wait, is that Kosher?

Kimchi Pancake

(photo courtesy of Closet Cooking)

I am always trying to use the ingredients that I already have on hand.  Call it laziness or call it thrift, it always baffles me how the pantry can be full but there is nothing to eat.  That is why when I saw a recipe in the Times for a kimchi pancake, I knew I had to make it. I love Korean food and, while I didn't have kimchi in the cupboard already, I did have everything else.  To make the pancake, it takes so few ingredients and so little time that I ended up making it twice in one week.

Simply mix together flour and potato starch, equal parts.  Then add an egg (we only had egg whites on hand - adding the equivalent amount didn't pose a problem).  I thinned it out with a tiny bit of water, too. Then, add the remainder of the ingredients - scallion, garlic, pepper and kimchi.  I did my best to cut the kimchi without making too much of a mess. The batter turns a funny pink.

Then heat up some oil and fry the pancakes (this recipe will make 3).



Because of the potato starch, the pancake gets very stiff, making for easy flipping.



Make sure to double or triple the dipping sauce recipe - it's really delicious and goes great over rice the following day.

Mix My Granola

If you read this blog even once a month, you know what a granola fanatic I am. From making it to rating it, there've been many an ode to the stuff. So, when I found Mix My Granola a few weeks back, I knew it'd be turning up on the blog whether I liked it or not.  MMG is one of those ideas to which you say <why didn't I think of that!?>.  The concept is simple: customized granola.  MMG puts ingredient selection in the hands of the consumer - allowing everyone to get exactly what they want.  I remember so many batches of granola I've encountered with coconut - YUCK ... for me. But YUM for others.  I always want more dried fruit and not as many nuts.  I like tons of cinnamon... flax seeds... MMG told me I could have it all.



Visit the website and you can start mixing your own.  Start with a base - cinnamon, organic, low-fat, French vanilla or muesli.  I naturally selected cinnamon.  You can then select the other ingredients, divided into categories: fruits, nuts and seeds, extras and enhancers.  The sky's the limit and there's no adding too much.  You can add doubles of ingredients if you want, all fruits, all nuts.. whatever your granola heart desires. And there's a pretty great variety of everything from which to choose.  Have you heard of chia seeds? What about adding some gotu kola powder?  It's an anti-inflammatory that helps circulation!  But things don't have to get too health.  The extras section is filled with gummy bears, chocolate bits and - my favorite - sesame sticks.

So after you've selected your ingredients, all you do is plug in your shipping address and pay (my granola came out to about $13 for roughly 15 oz). A few days later, a tube of granola arrives to your door! The customized nutrition facts are right there on the back with your ingredient list.



The only extra ingredient they add is love.  Awww how sweet. And in the end my granola was pretty tasty! It didn't have that baked together, crispy crunchy quality that comes when you bake all of the ingredients at once but I did love the fact that everything was in there because I wanted it to be!

Inspiration from my favorite L.A. restaurant

On our last night in L.A.,  Jill and Taylor suggested dinner at GJelina - a new restaurant on a very hip street in Santa Monica. We were dazzled by the 20 or so choices of vegetable small plates on the menu and our favorite of the ones we tried was roasted cauliflower.
I made my own version tonight that my husband thought was just as delicious. Here's the easy recipe: Place cauliflower florets in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, salt, pepper, capers, golden raisins and scatter lightly with breadcrumbs. Roast until lightly browned. Serve sprinkled with parsley! Le Yum!

Fried Chicken. Done.

If you've ever wanted to know, now's the time to learn baby.

(This video will be up til the 14th)

Kasadela Summer Gift

Last night it was about 85 degrees, 100% humidity.  All I could really think about eating was some Japanese food - light, clean and to the point. My friend and I popped into Kasadela on East 11th, a time-tested, five year old isayaka.  Our first choices - Kyo Ya and Kajitsu - were closed Monday, but sometimes an oldie is a goodie. And such was the case with Kasadela.

We had a pretty ideal meal, beginning with two enormous salads - hijiki and sesame green - and a plate of blistery shishito peppers.  My friend couldn't forgo the kimchi sauteed pork belly and for me, it was garlicky shrimp calling my name.  We were drinking Ohyama Tokubetsu Junmai Nama sake from Yamagata, which had a wonderful fruity taste. Fruity but rich. Enjoying a long overdue hang session and conversation, we decided to order a little more food, opting this time around for a donburi with shrimp and a platter of tempura shitakes ("Doñez food if I ever saw," my friend said - Doñez being ye ole nickname for yours truly).  Both fantastic! I will make donburi at home now. Easy, simply, yet incredibly flavorful.  And the 'shrooms, well I am partial to all fungi but I really think these were special.  We paired our second round of dishes with Tsukinokatsura "Kohakuko" Junmai Ginjo Nama sake from Kyoto.  This one seemed to me to cut through the food more. It was a little sharper than the first - ideal since we were eating heavy food at that point.

All fulled up, we ordered up the check, which came with the Kasadela Summer Gift! What a surprise!  I don't consider myself a cheapy.. but who doesn't like themselves some free shwag! The T-shirt's the best part of running a NYRR race, right? This was like that but better because we each got a Japanese clothe thingy.

When I got home, I opened the thingy up.

I wasn't sure what it was for a while - a table runner? a wall tapestry? But then I decided it must be a headband.

And then I started to wonder - if this is the Summer gift, is there a Fall gift as well? And a Winter prize?  I'll will have to go back to see ;-)

Tapas Party

I was just invited, by my Spanish friend Teresa, to a tapas party! I'll bring one of my favorite apps ... easy to make and sooo delicious! Slice red, orange and yellow peppers, add some thinly sliced serrano or jalapenos on to a baking sheet. Add lots and lots and lots of crushed garlic and pour olive oil over all. Add salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a low -250- oven for a couple of hours. That's it! Serve on crackers or thinly sliced french bread or bruschetta.
Or get creative: I've grilled eggplant, placed a spoonful of peppers on top and melted goat cheese over it. People raved.

Elderflower Part II

Those elderflowers I picked were put to good use. After soaking them with lemon, sugar and water for days, we strained them and boiled the reserved water down to saft (a light syrup/juice) and a very limited run of syrup. Check out the sweet bottles in the shop!

Fläderbloms = Elderflowers :-)

Late Night Snacks

My new neighbor, Gary, is one of the most fabulous men you'll ever meet. Not only does he dress like he owns Bergdorf's (in fact, he did a stint there as a personal shopper) but the man can cook. Last week, Read and I went out for a night on the town with our new neighbor. We crawled back to Gary's third floor apartment around 3am, all of us starving and nothing worth eating open in the vicinity. Not to worry! Gary had a few tricks up his sleeve and within 15 minutes we each had two perfect tostadas in front of us.

Corn tortillas went for a quick trip in a warm oven just to toast up a little while he worked on the toppings. He cubed up a block of mild Monterey Jack cheese, which he placed on the warm tortillas and popped back in the oven. Meanwhile, he whipped up a quick salsa of a couple of tomatoes we bought in a bodega in Times Square, red onion, hot green peppers and scallion. He browned a handful of ground beef and sliced a perfect avocado. All ingredients were placed on top of the melty-cheesey goodness and topped with a dollop of sour cream and a squeeze of lime. I have never eaten so well, so late.

So, this got me thinking--tostadas may just be the perfect late-night, go-to meal. The possibilities are endless. I'm thinking black bean and corn, or maybe some olives, or cojito cheese? Keep your fridge stocked with some corn tortillas, because you never know when you'll come home hungry.....and feeling inspired.

Photo courtesy of foodchannel.com

Speaking of Tomatoes ...

I had an interesting and very delicious appetizer at a funky little "joint" across the street from the Ohio River... Since you probably won't be coming to Cincinnati soon, you can make this at home in a flash!
Slice a tomato. Add a dollop or two of guacamole. Top with a few slices of seared tuna! I could make that dinner!

Tomato Season Means Gazpacho

What could be an easier and more delicious dinner than gazpacho!

Last night, I put an onion, red pepper, cucumber and serrano pepper in the cuisinart and coarsely chopped and removed to a bowl. Next I threw in 4 huge tomatoes and chopped. I put all of that into a bowl and added 3/4 cup of tomato juice, salt & pepper AND ... my garlic scapes that I put in a jar with olive oil last week. I added a splash of red wine vinegar and my gazpacho was done! To make it a one dish dinner, I added a few grilled shrimp and ... surprise ... a handful of popcorn! Perfect combination of tastes and textures.

Rhubarb Coconut Crumble

A rhubarb coconut crumble might just be the perfect dessert to mix things up this 4th... I know it is here in Sweden. Simply mix 4 cups of chopped rhubarb with 2 tbsps potato starch and 1/3 cup sugar. Pour the dusted fruit into a springform pan lined with parchment paper. In a food processor mix 4 tbsps butter, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup coconut shavings and 1/3 cup agave. Give it a whirl for 10-20 seconds. Cover the rhubarb with the buttery coconuttty crumble and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. I added granola to my serving at the last minute. Voilà!

Tabbouleh

A simple tabbouleh salad for dinner tonight. Simply cook bulgar for ten minutes. Add chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, tons of parsely, a little mint, a red onion, a chile and salt and pepper. Top it off with lemon and olive oil!
Dine a fresco of course!

Hot summer/cool food

While having dinner with South American friends on Friday, we were fantasizing about our favorite summer meal: Ceviche and guacamole! Both are so easy to make, yet my Venezeulan friend had never made either! I told her I would give her my favorite recipes, but I'm giving them to The Dish first!

Ceviche:
Ask your favorite fishmonger to cut up 1/4-1/2 inch cubes of white fish - I like to use a combination of sea bass and scallops. Marinate the fish with the juice of 3 limes, season with salt and pepper and place in fridge for at least an hour. In another bowl, place cut up jalapeno pepper, red pepper, red onion ...and whatever other veggies you like - I sometimes add corn or small chunks of sweet potato. Add lime juice and marinate for an hour.
Drain both, mix together, add more lime juice and chopped cilantro. (the lime juice "cooks" the fish so make sure to marinate it for at least an hour - up to 3 hours is fine.

My guac has become a family favorite.
Place in a blender 3 serrano peppers, a tsp. salt, 1/4 onion and chop finely.
Add 3-4 avocados, 3 Tbs. lime juice and mix.
Stir in 1/3 cup chopped pear, chopped grapes and (if available) pomegranate seeds.

Invite friends over for drinks and appetizers and that may end up being dinner!
Taylor had both on one of his early visits to Cincinnati and decided Jill's family was ok!

Yes we Coyoacan!

The ultra-modern, all glass facade of Mesa Coyoacan is what deterred us from visiting the space's previous inhabitant, Pampa Grill. What can I say - it's just a bit out there for this stretch of Graham Ave. That said, after nudges and endorsements from our neighborhood pals, we decided to finally cross the threshold and... books, covers, judgements - you get the idea.

Inside, it's seductively inviting, dark and spacious. There's a hint of the modern rustic thing, but they're doing it with some subtlety. I love all the wood, and it contrasts nicely with some of the utility style fixtures. In addition to the 2 tops and 4 tops, there were two large communal tables, which usually I'm kinda so-so on, but we speculated that these are probably great on the late night tip when the bar takes greater emphasis.

The food.  Let's just say, a hole in my soul has been filled. This neighborhood, my home for the past 10 years, has lacked one very important feature - good Mexican food. We've always had to trek waaay over to Bedford Ave area for anything decent. With the welcome addition of Mesa Coyoacan, that dark epoch is now behind us.

The place was fairly busy, as it has seemed to be since opening, but on a Monday that caught us by surprise. They had something at a communal table, but we opted to sit at the bar. The menu destroyed us. There were just too many drool inspiring options. We finally landed on starting with the Ceviche De Camaron. One of many of Chef Ivan's family recipes, this chilled dish was a perfect warm summer night starter. The plump fresh shrimp with the lime, avacado, and cilantro and some kind of spicy salsa goodness combined to great effect.



Jill - no surprise here - had the mushroom tacos. Three little spicy shroomfests in fresh tortillas that packed a punch. They had also tossed into the mix some cactus, huitlacoche, pico de gallo and queso fresco. Knocked us out.

I decided to go for the Enchiladas De Mole, noted as another Chef Ivan family secret. I'm not normally that big a fan of mole but was feeling adventurous. Good thing too, because it blew my miiind suckah! The mole sauce was smooth and soothing. And omg, we also got a side of fried plantains, so it was bite of enchilda, a bite of plantain, a bite of enchilada... and every now and then a hint of fresh habanero sauce... mmm...

Yes we opted for a couple of desserts. Both were great. First we had the churros, which were served with two sauces, chocolate and caramel. The churros were among the best I'd tasted - I flashed back to the street vendors in Jarez. These were crisped to perfection with a moist inner lovliness. It was so satisfying to switch off dipping into the slightly spicy dark chocolate sauce and much lighter creamy caramel. No matter how full you are, you must order this dessert.

Finally, we paid out (not bad), and took for the road home our strawberry paletas - 2 fun size pops per order. Post rain, on a muggy July '09 night... yes, yes, yes... they were oh so very good.

Easier French Fries à la Cooks Illustrated

I got these great salmon burgers from The Lobster Place for dinner and wanted to do a fun accompaniment. I had just received my Cooks Illustrated in the mail and remembered a recipe for "Easier French Fries."  That sounded perfect. I started out with some humble Yukon Golds.



Slice it into batons.



Drop them into a pot of canola oil - 1 cup per potato - while the oil is still cold. Once you put the taters in, turn on the heat.



Let them fry for 20 minutes and them fluff them with tongs.



Get any sticky bits off of the sides.  Wait another 5 minutes, et voilà!

Lemon Cream Cookie Extravaganza

Last week, not one but two cookie recipes sent me running to the store for lemons and an extra pound of butter.  I donated “most” of first batch to a party but devoured the second batch personally and without shame.

For the first batch, I attempted the Lemon Sandwich Cookies featured in this month’s Gourmet.  The recipe combines a simple but luscious filling of confectioners sugar, butter and lemon zest with a dense and cake-like lemon scented cookie.  For cookies with a strong burst of citrus rather than a soft aroma, I would add one tablespoon of lemon zest instead of the suggested half-tablespoon to the cookie dough.



As you can see, there was generous amount of filling in the sandwiches.  But I was still left with a lot tasty frosting and subsequently, could not resist sandwiching together my next baking project: Lemon Cloud Tea Cookies.

The original recipe, posted on Joy the Baker, calls for half a teaspoon of lemon or orange extract.  Neither are staples in my house, and initially, I planned to use lemon zest instead of extract.  But Gourmet’s Lemon Sandwich Cookie recipe revealed a better solution.  To give the cookies a distinct lemon tang without forcing an excess of liquid to the dough, the Gourmet recipe uses fresh lemon juice that is reduced on the stove.  So I created my own “lemon extract” by gently simmering a quarter cup of lemon juice until only one tablespoon remained.



The substitution worked perfectly and did not compromise the texture of the cookie.  In fact because a flour and cornstarch comprise the dough’s base, the cookie virtually melts in your mouth.

French Onion Soup

After my brother spent some time in Paris this spring, he grew an affinity for French onion soup. On a rainy night, he came over and we recreated the magic using a recipe we found in Gourmet magazine.



First we melted butter.



Then sliced two huge onions and one medium sized.



Then we added the onions to the pot and added a pinch of salt, three sprigs of thyme and two bay leaves.



We sautéed them for 45 minutes until they got very tender and brown.  We then added a little flour to thicken it up.



We added some white wine.



Then four cups of beef broth.



Then water to mellow it out a bit.



We added some freshly ground pepper and then let the pot simmer for a half an hour.



In the meantime, we sliced bread and toasted it in the oven for about 15 minutes, flipping it once so as not to burn it.



We grated some Parmesan cheese.



And some Fontina.  I was late rounding up the groceries and Emily's Pork Store didn't have Gruyére or Comté so I went for the Fontina.



We fished out the bay leaves and branches of thyme.  Of course we could have made a bouquet de garni but we didn't have cheesecloth and neither of us mind pieces of thyme in the mix.



We portioned out two bowls.  I had French onion soup bowls! I got them with my mother at Housing Works years ago - I knew they'd come in handy!



We dropped a toast into each bowl.



We topped the toast with the Fontina and the Parmesan.



I turned the oven all the way up (broiler does not work) and loaded in the soup.



A few minutes later, voilá! Cheese bubbling on top, we pulled the bowls out of the oven and enjoyed our Soupe de l'Oignon!  Time consuming but very simple, I recommend making a lot at a time and then freezing what you don't use.  It'll always come in handy on a rainy evening.